How to Manage Chemical Spills: A Complete Guide

Hazardous chemical spills in the workplace have the potential to harm people, property and the environment. This guide outlines how to:

Plan for the prevention of chemical spills, including implementing practical controls to ensure chemicals are appropriately stored and handled.
Respond to spills when they occur, including risk assessment, spill containment, clean-up of spilled chemical, and reporting of the spill incident.

REMEMBER: Under the WHS Act, a major uncontrolled chemical spill or leakage is classed as a dangerous and notifiable incident. The regulator in your state or territory must be notified in writing as soon as possible following a chemical spill.

Who Should Use This Guide to Chemical Spill Management?

This guide applies to any workplace that stores or handles hazardous chemicals onsite. These can include flammable, corrosive or toxic liquids or compressed (pressurised) gases.
industrail-image

Industrial chemicals in Australia - Source: environment.gov.au

Our complete spill management guide is for people who work in industries such as:

Chemical manufacturers storing and handling industrial chemicals
Office buildings storing heavy-duty cleaning products
Automotive businesses storing motor oils and fuel
Farming businesses using and storing fuel and agricultural chemicals
Fuel service stations storing petrol, diesel, oil and gas
Food and beverage manufacturers producing milk products, fruit juices, etc.
Fast food restaurants and outlets using and storing cooking oil
Research laboratories storing and handling hazardous chemicals

REMEMBER: Personnel responsible for workplace health and safety or site management can use this resource to better understand chemical management procedures and develop a suitable chemical spill response plan.

When Do Chemical Spills Occur?

Accidents happen. But some chemical spills in the workplace are just accidents waiting to happen.

Prevention is one of the most important parts of your workplace’s chemical management program. However, even in the most well-prepared workplace environments, chemical spills and leaks can happen. This is why a tailored chemical spill response plan involving appropriate spill containment, spill kits and spill control materials is also essential for safety and compliance.

A chemical spill kit is a vital component of a chemical spill response plan

What are Contributing Factors to Chemical Spills in the Workplace?

Developing and promoting an understanding among all workplace personnel of why chemical spills happen — and what causes spill accidents to occur — is a logical way to approach chemical management.

Consider the following workplace scenarios where an avoidable minor chemical spill could occur due to various possible contributing factors.

SPILL SCENARIO	POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
A container of hazardous chemicals stacked on top of several other identical containers falls to the ground and ruptures, spilling an uncontrolled quantity of dangerous chemical that presents a significant threat to the health and safety of personnel and harm to the environment.	Stock levels of hazardous chemicals are in excess of what is able to be stored safely and expediently upon delivery Insufficient safe chemical storage capacity Breakdown in purchasing and delivery procedures, e.g., delivery of larger quantities of chemicals than are actually required for that workplace Lack of available personnel trained in the handling of chemical goods, e.g., due to early/late delivery by supplier when required personnel not rostered on Inadequate supervision of personnel, e.g., chemical deliveries not stored in designated area immediately after delivery Plant equipment not kept in good working order, e.g., forklifts, trolleys, mechanical lifting devices
An uncontrolled quantity of a hazardous chemical is spilled on the workplace floor during a decanting process transferring the chemical from one container to another, endangering the health and safety of the personnel involved and potentially harming the environment.	Bunded containment equipment was either not installed, overloaded or used incorrectly, e.g., used for storing non-hazardous substances or stacked incorrectly Lack of suitable drip trays with raised edges to contain spills Lack of suitable chemical safety cabinets with inbuilt spill sumps for larger quantities of hazardous chemicals Lack of bunded drum dollies for moving chemicals around the warehouse Personnel tasked with the decanting activity were not adequately trained for the job or were not adequately supervised Inadequate inspection procedures to identify damage to equipment and use-by-dates in a timely manner

What is Bad Practice Chemical Storage and Handling?

The following images demonstrate unsafe scenarios where chemicals are being handled or stored with a high spill risk.

Source: EPA Victoria

Don’t: Keep chemical drums, IBCs and other containers on the ground, in uneven stacks or without the appropriate compliant chemical storage. To avoid leaks and spills that may affect people, property and the environment, any chemical spill risk must be managed through bunded handling or storage equipment

What is Good Practice Chemical Storage and Handling?

The following images demonstrate best practice examples of how to store and handle hazardous substances so that any leaks and chemical spills are avoided.

Source: EPA Victoria

Do: Make sure you store chemicals in bunded storage so spills and leaks can be contained. These spill containment bunds should be inspected daily, so that they may be cleaned out and kept compliant. When moving hazardous substances around the worksite, choose bunded handling equipment such as dollies or trolleys. Decanting equipment should also be utilised to reduce spill risk.

Assessing the Spill

A chemical spill is either classified as a minor or major spill, depending on various factors such as the volume spilt, the location of the spill, and how hazardous the substance is.

What is a Minor Chemical Spill?

A minor chemical spill is classified as a spill that can be effectively cleaned up by an individual person or work crew. For example, a few millilitres of cleaning chemicals are spilt when decanting into portable containers. Although the risk from industrial strength cleaning chemicals can be high, if the volume is small enough to be easily neutralised and removed, then it is considered a minor spill.

What is a Major Chemical Spill?

A major chemical spill is far more serious and generally necessitates the immediate evacuation of the area concerned, if not the entire premises. For example, the uncontrolled release of flammable liquid fuel from a container in an unventilated, enclosed area. If the volume of escaping fuel and subsequent fumes becomes large enough, the risk of ignition and harm to people and property becomes high.

Consider an incident as a major spill if the following criteria can be applied:

QUANTITY: The spill involves more than

a) 100 millilitres or 10 grams of a highly hazardous chemical (such as a carcinogen); or
b) 1 litre or 100 grams of a volatile or flammable solvent, reactive or corrosive (acid or base) liquid or solid.

HAZARD: The hazardous chemical

a) presents an immediate threat to human health and safety or the environment;
b) is unknown; or
c) is an immediate fire hazard, such as an uncontrolled gas leak.

LOCATION: The chemical is:

a) Outside the premises or the area where the substance is generally handled; and/or
b) There are no suitably trained personnel available to clean up the spill

NOTE: Some especially dangerous substances, such as mercury or highly corrosive acids, are considered as major spills at volumes less than 100 millilitres.

Use a Decision Tree Flowchart

The chemical spill decision tree flowchart can assist workplaces to work through the process of determining if a spill should be classed as a minor or major spill.

Through a series of questions, you can quickly navigate through the flowchart to decide whether your spill may require an in-house spill response or management from emergency services.

By determining the level of risk with your spill, you can then work towards safely and effectively containing and cleaning up the accidental release.

Diagram

Spill Response

How to clean up chemical spills in the workplace is a vital question to be asked when you’re creating a spill response. While your preventative measures may be in place, it’s just as important to prepare for a potential leak or spill so you can quickly minimise risk.

Your spill response equipment, including spill kits, spill control materials (booms, pads or other chemical spill barriers) and absorbent material (wipes, pillows and floor sweep) must be suitable and compatible for the type of chemical spill that you’re dealing with.

Why a Prompt Spill Response is Essential

Responding to liquid chemical spills quickly and effectively is crucial if you are to minimise potential harm to people and the environment. Once you have determined whether the incident is a minor or major spill, you can move forward with your incident management and spill response plan.

A major spill may constitute an emergency and require urgent response and even the need for emergency services to attend the scene. A small-scale minor spill can generally be dealt with by onsite personnel. Whatever the severity of the incident, appropriate and adequate incident response is vital to ensure harm to people and the environment is minimised.

Poor incident management could, for example, lead to untrained personnel flushing spilt materials down stormwater drains, jeopardising the health of both people and the environment.

Regulators, such as the state government EPAs, recommend your incident management plan follows a response process. We’ll discuss this in detail in the next section of our post.

“Each site is different, and the issues and responses required will vary accordingly. The degree of incident planning that you need to undertake at your site will depend on the types of liquids that you store and the quantities.” EPA Victoria, Liquid storage and handling guidelines (2018)

Steps to Managing a Chemical Spill

Contain the Spill

Step 1

A. Assess the risk the spill poses to people, the environment and property.

B. Determine the type of liquid material, the quantity spilt (and whether the spill is ongoing) and if there are any human or animal casualties.

C. Ensure you and any other responders are wearing appropriate PPE so you can safely respond the the spill.

D. Refer to the relevant Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to quickly identify any hazards associated with the liquid spilt - these documents should be kept onsite in a weather-proof document storage box.

Install a secure, weather-proof SDS document holder in a suitable location

Step 2

A. Confine the spill to reduce the area being contaminated and lessen the spill’s impact.

B. Use the appropriate spill containment kit, including any additional PPE, neutralising agents, absorbent material, containers, brooms, physical barriers and other tools as required - Emergency Spill Kits are specifically tailored to deal with chemical spills

C. To most effectively contain the spill, distribute the spill control and absorbent materials around and over the entire spill area, working from the outside and circling towards the inside.

D. Where possible, spills should be covered during rainfall so that the rainfall drainage doesn’t compromise the clean-up activities and contaminate the surrounding environment.

Install a Universal spill kits are a general-purpose spill kit for most common spills

Stop the Spill

Step 3

A. Once the spill has been contained, stop the leak. If safe to do so, stop the spill at its source. For instance, set right a drum that has tipped over, plug a hole that is leaking liquid, or switch off a pump or compressor that is accelerating the spill.

B. Contact emergency services immediately on Triple-Zero if the spill involves a hazardous substance (such as a flammable or toxic substance) or if you suspect that the spill will escape to the environment.

C. If appropriate, decant any remaining liquid into a secondary container.

D. Ensure all responders are careful not to step in the spill.

Portable collapsible bunds can be used for fast and easy secondary spill containment.

Step 4

A. Re-assess the situation before commencing the clean-up operation to ensure the spill is fully under control.

Clean-Up the Spill

Step 5

A. Clean up the spill, being sure to include all contaminated materials, including any waste water used in the clean-up.

Step 6

A. Ensure correct disposal of all contaminated waste. Make sure that any contaminated absorbent materials and other equipment used to clean-up the spill are disposed of appropriately to avoid further environmental damage.

B. Identify used absorbent materials and other equipment used to clean-up spills that must be disposed of at a legal facility or collected by an authorised waste management provider.

C. Used absorbent materials containing contaminated liquids hazardous chemicals cannot be disposed of in a general waste bin.

D. Ensure correct disposal of all contaminated waste. Make sure that any contaminated absorbent materials and other equipment used to clean-up the spill are disposed of appropriately to avoid further environmental damage.

Step 7

A. Ensure all the personnel involved with the spill clean-up are fully decontaminated.

B. Make sure all PPE and equipment used to clean-up the spill is also fully decontaminated.

C. Ensure the affected site itself is also clean, safe and fully decontaminated.

D. Check PPE, equipment, drain covers and spill kit items for damage and permanent contamination and dispose of accordingly.

E. Replenish stocks of PPE, equipment and spill kits as required.

Replenish stocks of used PPE and spill kit items

Report the Spill

Step 8

A. Record and log the spill incident using the appropriate reporting mechanism and ensure it is reported to management.

B. De-brief all personnel involved in the incident and ensure they are all clear about their respective roles so they can adjust their response in any future incidents as required.

C. Investigate the cause of the spill and make any appropriate changes to your chemical management procedures and chemical spill response plan, including, for example, the location of your spill response equipment.

Chemical Spills in the Workplace

By conducting a risk assessment, developing chemical management procedures, and creating a chemical spill response plan specifically tailored to your workplace, you can reduce the likelihood and impact of chemical spills.